KPD e-News Release: Kingsport Police and Local FOP Invite Public to Annual Law Enforcement Memorial Service (Reminder)

Kingsport Police and Local FOP Invite Public to Annual Law Enforcement Memorial Service (Reminder)

DATE:

May 13, 2019

GENERAL NARRATIVE

Reminder: The Law Enforcement Memorial Service is today, May 13, 2019 at 4:00 PM at the Kingsport Police Department Law Enforcement Memorial and Eternal Flame, located on the corner of West Market and Clay Streets in Downtown Kingsport.

Please join us as we remember and honor our local fallen officers, as well as all fallen officers throughout the nation.

As previously released:

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed May 15th as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15th falls, as National Police Week. Established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962, National Police Week pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others.

This year, National Police Week will take place from May 13 through 19, 2019. Traditionally, the local Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P.) Burgess-Mills Lodge #11 conducts a Law Enforcement Memorial Service at the Kingsport Justice Center during National Police Week.

The service this year will be held this coming Monday, May 13, 2019 at 4:00 PM at the Kingsport Police Department Law Enforcement Memorial and Eternal Flame, located on the corner of West Market and Clay Streets in Downtown Kingsport. As always, the department extends an open invitation to anyone who would like to join us as we remember and honor our local fallen officers, as well as all fallen officers throughout the nation.

Bobby L. Russell, Sullivan County Circuit Court Clerk, will serve as the keynote speaker. Mr. Russell recently retired from an extensive 32-year law enforcement career with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and is a longtime member, unwavering supporter, and multi-term past president of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.

The local Fraternal Order of Police (F.O.P.) Burgess-Mills Lodge #11 is named in honor of two of the Kingsport Police Department’s Fallen Officers, Patrolman Ira H. Burgess and Patrolman John E. Mills, who were tragically shot and killed in the line of duty in 1950 and 1940 respectively. Information regarding these and all of K.P.D.’s Fallen Officers can be found in the following link:

The following inscription is found on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington D.C.

“This Memorial is dedicated to all Law Enforcement Officers in the United States of America. Inscribed on these walls are the names of those men and women who died in the line of duty. It is not how these officers died that made them heroes. It is how they lived.”

Links to the National Police Week website, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund website, and the Officer Down Memorial Page are provided below:

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